Improved currier s knife



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE FEATHERSTON, OF AU SABLE FORKS, NEW YORK.

IMPaovVx-:D CURRIEPJS KNIFE..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,285, dated January 6, 1863.

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, GEO. FEATHEESTON, of

` Au Sable Forks, in the county ofOlinton and State of New York, have invented. a new and Improved Ourriers Knife for Dressing Leather 5 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full aud exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked there- Similar letters indicate the same devices in all` the figures.

The nature of my invention consists in the combination and arrangement of the devices of the common curriers table and beam knives, so as to form a new knife with four cuttingedges, instead of two, and in several other respects of greater utility than any knife heretofore used.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure 1` is an elevation of my improved knife, showing the end of the crosshandle c and the screws e, which hold the two halves of the frame together. Fig. 2 is another view of the same, showing the side of the cross-handle c, and also the frame in two parts with the blade between.A Fig. Bis an end elevation of the common curriers table-knife,showing one edge ofthe blade concealed in the handle or stock d, also showin g the position in which the knife is used upon the table. Fig. 4 is a section ofthe common curriers beam-knife, showing the handie in a position parallel with the surface of the blade, also showing the position in which this knife is used upon the beam. Both this and Fig. 3 are represented cutting from right to'left. Fig. 5 is a section of my improved knife, showing the frame and the blade with the four cutting edges or corners upon the same.

A is the frame; b, blade; c, cross-handle; c', parallel handle; d, stock 5 e, screws t', double cutting-edges 5 o, single cutting-edge.

To construct my improved knife, I employ the blade Of the common curriers table-knife in the frame of the beam-knife, and as both edges of the blade are exposed in this frame, I am enabled to have four cutting edges or corners, instead of two.

In using the common table-knife it has al- Ways been found difficult to lay the blade flat enough without bringing the thumbs in contact with the leather. In my improved knife this difficulty is obviated. In useit is employed upon a beam, instead of a table, in the same manner that a common beam-knife is used, but owing to'the difference in the form of the edges, and the manner in which they act upon the leather, the edge of my improved knife is pushed over the leather, while the edge of the common beam-knife is dragged or drawn over the leather, as represented in Figs. 3 and 4, the blade of the former leaning backward in a direction opposite to that in which it is traveling, and the blade of the latter leaning forward in. the same direction in which it is traveling. This difference of the position of the blade, while cutting, in relation to the leather, makes it necessary, for convenience of handling, to arrange the cross-handle c with its axis perpendicular to the surface of 'the blade, as represented in Fig. 2, instead of parallel with it, as represented in Fig. 4.

My improved knife is used more for smoothing and whitening the leather than for shaving it, though it may be used `for both purposes.

The advantages obtained by my improvement are, first, double the number of edges in one tool; second, it is held upon the leather with a greater degree of accuracy and firmness and with less exertion; third, considerably more and better work can be done with it in a given time than with the common tableknife 5 fourth, the use of it is much more easily learned.

Having described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and wish to have secured to me by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the cross-handle c with the blade b, having upon it one or more double cutting-edges, when said handle is arranged with its axis perpendicular to the surface of the blade, or nearly so, as herein specified.

GEO. EEATEEESTON.

Witnesses:

W. H. ELLIOT, l?. D. MOORE. 

